Apparatus for coating predetermined concentric areas



APPARATUS FOR COATING PREDETERMINED CONCENTRIC AREAS Original Filed May 29, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 C. P. STRAKOSCH, JR, ETAL April 17, 1962 INVENTOR Cam, IPMZ 62.4; 5W}! April 1962 c. P. STRAKOSCH, JR, ETAL 3,029,781

APPARATUS FOR COATING PREDETERMINED CONCENTRIC AREAS Original Filed May 29, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR kw K5 ATTORNEY April 17, 1962 c. P. sTRAKoscH, JR., ETAL 3,029,781

APPARATUS FOR COATING PREDETERMINED CONCENTRIC AREAS Original Filed May 29, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I Inn l-llflll llllll A36 nmlumnmumuum? II" l-l llll INVENTORS Clarence P Strokosch,dr.

Edwin K. Smith,Jr.&

Harry A. Waiter A fTORNEY United States Patent OfiFice 3,029,781 Patented Apr. 1'7, 1962 16 Claims. Cl. 1l8--315) The present invention relates to a coating apparatus, and more particularly to a coating apparatus for applying coating in a particular pattern to an object.

This application is a division of our co-pending application Serial No. 738,673, filed May 29, 1958 for Packaging.

Coating apparatus is known wherein a work piece has material such as paint or adhesive sprayed thereon in a pattern; this pattern often coincides with an outline of the work piece. Such apparatus had the work pieces positioned on a conveyor which moved in an intermittent manner past the spray station. Thus, the sprayed material was permitted to gather on the conveyor, necessitating an undesirable cleaning operation after a period of use.

Other prior art coating apparatus have provided a clamp for holding the work piece, which clamp was rotated in front of stationary spray guns. As will be apparent, only a circular pattern could be sprayed with the apparatus.

An object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus that will spray a non-circular pattern onto a work piece held by a clamp.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a coating apparatus that will obviate the use of a conveyor to hold the work piece, and will also apply a noncircular pattern.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus that will apply two coating patterns simultaneously.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of coating apparatus that Will apply two concentric coating patterns.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the in stant invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a coating apparatus in accordance with the present invention and taken on the line lll of FIG. 3;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the coating apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in an alternate position thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-42 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section on line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan View of the drive gearing for the apparatus;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view, in perspective, of the package whose cover the present invention is particularly designed to coat; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the package.

The present invention contemplates a portion of the machine as more fully described in parent application Serial No. 738,673. in that application, a machine is described which has a conveyor on which are transported a number of trays or receptacles filled with charcoal, either in briquette form or in other form. There is also provided a magazine to hold a supply of covers for the receptacle. Covers are removed one at a time the hole in support plate 83.

up and conveyed to a position where it is afiixed to the tray or receptacle.

The present case relates only to the apparatus for spraying the predetermined areas of the cover with an adhesive. a

The package whose cover the present invention was particularly designed to partially coat is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. In FIG. 6, it may be seen that the package 23 comprises a receptacle or tray 24 having four side walls and an upstanding chimney 25 therein. The cover 2a? of the package 23 is of a size and shape to fit upon the tray 24, and has a hole 27 which communicates with the chimney when the package is assembled. In the central cross-sectional View shown in FIG. 7, it will be seen that the receptacle 24 and the cover 26 have outwardly extending peripheral flanges at their exterior edges and inwardly extending peripheral flanges about the chimney opening.

The spray coating apparatus 16 is shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. In FIG. 1, there may be seen a columnar support 79, which is preferably constructed of multiple pieces as shown. Support 7% has journalled therein a cylinder 71 having an external ring 72 attached thereto at its upper end. Overlying the upper end of cylinder 71 and external ring 72 is a support'plate 73 which is connected to the external ring 72 by a pin 74. Support plate 73 has an eccentric hole therein through which extends a supply pipe '76 which supports a spray gun 77 .at its upper end. An internal ring 78 is pinconnected by a bolt 79 with support plate 73, and has secured thereto, as by welding, an internal cylinder 81 which has secured to its lower end a ring 82 and lower support plate 83. It will be understood that the cylinder 81, ring 82 and support plate 83 are secured together in any convenient manner. Lower support plate 83 has an eccentric hole therein aligned with the, hole in support plate 73, and the pipe 76 also extends through Collar '73vis fastened by a set screw to pipe 76 and supports it and spray gun 77 at the proper height for spraying. Collar 83' keeps pipe 76 from freely moving up and down. The source of supply for spray gun 77 is connected to a pipe arrangement 76 by a flexible hose, not shown.

Referring again to the upper end of cylinder 71, there is positioned on the upper surface of support plate 73 a slide plate 85 having a plurality of compression springs 86 positioned thereon and guided by pins 87 The upper ends of springs 86 yieldingly support an annular workpiece receiving member 88 having a planar upper surface. Attached to and depending from member 88 is a cylinder 89 having an inwardly extending flange 90 at the lower end thereof, flange Stl engaging with the lower surface of external ring 72 to act as a stop to limit upward movement of member 88. A fixed clamp member 91 is disposed above the member 28 for cooperation therewith, as shown in FIG. 2. The clamp member 91 is stationary and is attached to the supporting frame.

Reciprocatory movement is imparted to cylinder 71 by means of a collar 92 fixed to the lower end thereof, collar 92 having a groove into which extends a pair of rollers 98 rotatabiy mounted at the ends of a pair of levers 97. Levers @7 are rigidly secured to a rockershaft 99 journalled in the supporting frame. One of the levers 97 has an extension 93 for supporting a cam follower which is in engagement with a cam 95 fixed to the cam shaft 37 (FIG. 5). A spring 96 attached to extension 93 and the frame 39 constantly urges cam follower 94 into engagement with cam 95.

Rotary movement is imparted to cylinder 71 from a rack 199 which is in engagement with a pinion 101 aifixed to a shaft 162 carrying at its upper end a gear 103 in mesh with a gear we carried by a shaft liiS. On the lower end of shaft 195 is a gear 1% which is in mesh with a gear 107 aflixed to the lower end of cylinder 71 above the collar 92. Thus, reciprocation of rack 100 will cause rotary movement of cylinder 71 through this gear train. It will be noted that gear 105 has sufficient axial extent to insure engagement therewith of gear 107 in any position of the latter which it may assume during the rcciprocatory movement of the cylinder 71.

A flange 110 (see FIG. 3) is integrally cast with support 70 and has four arms 111, 112, 113 and 1 14 extending radially therefrom. Each of the arms 111, 112, 113 and 114 has a horizontal slit therein and supports a sleeve 115 (see arm 114 of FIG. 1) in which is journalled a shaft 116 carrying at its upper end a sprocket 117. Gther sprockets 118, 119 and 12-3 are supported in like manner, and in a common plane; a chain 121 is in operative engagement with the sprockets 117, 118, 119 and 120, and carries a pair of upstanding pins, one of the pins 122 being shown near the sprocket 119 in FIG. 1. The lower end of shaft 116 is connected by suitable universal joint means 124 with the shaft -5, so that upon reciprocation of rack 10%, chain 121 will be caused to travel through its path defined by the four sprockets 117, 118, 119 and 120.

Revolvably mounted upon support 76 above the flange 110 is a yoke 125 having two oppositely extending arms 126 and 126 (as seen in FIG. 4). These arms are identical, so that only one will be described. Arm 126 has a post 127 mounted thereon, and journalled upon post 127 is a support bracket 128 which carries at its outer end a spray gun 129. Spray gun 13b is supported by identical mechanism on arm 126. Each of the spray guns 129 and 130 has an axially extending socket in the lower part thereof, which is concentric with the spray nozzle, and the aforementioned pins 122 (of which there are two) are received in these sockets. A source of supply for spray gun r29 is connected to pipe 129' by a flexible hose, not shown. A similar arrangement is provided for spray gun 130.

It Will thus be seen that the chain 121 defines a path which is generally square, and has rounded corners. This is the exact shape of the external periphery of the cover 26. As the chain is caused to move through its course, it carries the spray guns 129 and 130 along by virtue of the two pins 122 in engagement with the sockets of the spray guns, thus causing the spray nozzles to traverse the same path as the chain. The spray guns are thus caused to pull along with them the yoke 125 so that it rotates about support 70 and, in addition, because of the rotational connection of bracket 128 with the post 127, the spray guns 129 and 130 may occupy different radial positions from the center of support 79 as they traverse about the support 7 0.

When the cam 95 causes the lever 93 to raise the cylinder 71, the member 88 will be urged upwardly by the spring 86 to clamp a cover between the member 88 and the stationary clamping member 91. In addition to spraying the exterior margin of the cover by the manner noted above, rotation of cylinder 71 will cause rotation of eccentrically mounted spray gun 77 so that the inner circular periphery of the cover 26 is also spray coated. Upon continued rotation of the cam 95, the member 88 will be lowered to release the cover that has been sprayed.

The end of rack 100 opposite to that which engages with pinion 101 carries a cam follower 132 which engages with a groove in the face of cam 133, as best shown in FIG. 5. Cam 133 is rotatably mounted on cam shaft 37 and is driven by means of gear 52 engaging with a gear 134 on counter shaft 135, counter shaft 135 carrying in addition thereto a second gear 136 which engages with a gear 137 which is fixed to cam 133 and is also revolvably mounted upon cam shaft 37. The purpose of the arrangement just described is to provide a one-to-two movement of these spray guns with relation to the remainder of the apparatus. Thus, on one cycle of the machine, each of the spray guns 129 and will start from a position midway of a first side of the generally square-shaped pattern above referred to, will travel to and around a corner along a full side at right angles to the first side, around a second corner, and half way along the third side, which is parallel to the first side. On the next cycle of the machine each of the spray guns will traverse the same pattern, but in the opposite direction.

There has been provided a coating apparatus that will clamp a work piece and spray two concentric patterns thereon simultaneously, one circular and the other noncircular. This apparatus obviates the use of a conveyor, thus requiring a minimum of shut-downs for clean ings. The parts thereof are so interconnected that they may be driven at a high rate of speed.

The entire machine is driven by a main drive rim which may preferably comprise an electric motor, not shown. By means of a sprocket and chain arrangement not shown, shaft 37 is rotated for actuating the coating apparatus of the present invention.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a coating apparatus, a support, a cylinder rotatably carried by said support, means for rotating said cylinder with respect to said support, a member carried by said cylinder and adapted to receive a workpiece, a connection between said cylinder and said member whereby said member remains stationary when said cylinder is rotated, a spray gun, and means mounting said spray gun on said cylinder for rotational movement therewith.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, said means mounting said spray gun eccentrically of said cylinder.

3. In a coating apparatus, a support, a cylinder rotatably and reciprocably mounted on said support, means for rotating said cylinder with respect to said support, means for reciprocating said cylinder with respect to said support, a member carried by said cylinder and adapted to receive a workpiece, a connection between said cylinder and said member whereby said member remains stationary when said cylinder is rotated, a spray gun, and means mounting said spray gun on said cylinder for rotational and reciprocable movement therewith.

4. The coating apparatus of claim 3, said means mounting said spray gun eccentrically of said cylinder.

5. In a coating apparatus, a support, a cylinder mounted in said support for rotational and translational movement, means for rotating said cylinder with respect to said support, means for reciprocating said cylinder with respect to said support, a spray gun carried by said cylinder with its axis parallel to the axis of said cylinder, a first clamp member supported axially of said cylinder and in spaced juxtaposition therewith, a second clamp member adapted to receive a work piece, and means mounting said second clamp member on said cylinder for translational movement therewith, said means permitting relative rotational movement between said second clamp member and said cylinder whereby, when said cylinder is reciprocated toward said first clamp member, said work piece becomes clamped between said clamp members.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, said spray gun being mounted eccentrically of said cylinder axis.

7. In a coating apparatus, a support, a cylinder mounted in said support for rotational and translational movement, means for rotating said cylinder with respect to said support, means for reciprocating said cylinder with respect to said support, a spray gun carried by said cylinder with its axis parallel to the axis of said cylinder, a first clamp member supported axially of said cylinder and in spaced juxtaposition therewith, a second clamp member adapted to receive a Work piece, means mounting said second clamp member on said cylinder for translational movement therewith, said means permitting relative rotational movement between said second clamp member and said cylinder, whereby, when said cylinder is reciprocated toward said first clamp member, said work piece becomes clamped between said clamp members, a plurality of sprockets mounted on said support exteriorly of said cylinder with their axes parallel to said cylinder, a chain on said sprockets, sprayer means rotatably mounted on said support for movement in a plane transverse to the axis of said cylinder, and means connecting said sprayer means with said chain for movement therewith.

8. In a coating apparatus, a support, a cylinder mounted on said support for rotational and translational movement, means for rotating said cylinder with respect to said support, means for reciprocating said cylinder with respect to said support, a spray gun carried by said cylinder with its axis parallel to the axis of said cylinder, at first clamp member supported axially of said cylinder and in spaced juxtaposition therewith, a second clamp member disposed in axial alignment with said cylinder adapted to receive a work piece, spring means disposed between an end of said cylinder and said second clamp member and urging said second clamp member axially away from said cylinder, and stop means operatively connected between said second clamp member and said cylinder to limit the travel of said second clamp member away from said cylinder whereby, when said cylinder is reciprocated toward said first clamp member, said work piece becomes clamped between said clamp members.

9. In a coating apparatus, a support, a cylinder mounted on said support for rotational and translational movement, means for rotating said cylinder with respect to said support, means for reciprocating said cylinder with respect to said support, a plate fixedly mounted to one end of said cylinder, means mounting a spray gun on said plate eccentrically of the axis of said cylinder, a slip plate on said plate, a first clamp member supported axially of said cylinder and in spaced juxtaposition therewith, a second clamp member adapted to receive a work piece, spring means abutting against said slip plate and said second clamp member and urging said second clamp member away from said cylinder, and stop means operatively connected between said second clamp member and said cylinder to limit movement of said second clamp member away from said cylinder whereby, when said cylinder is reciprocated towardsaid first clamp member, said work piece becomes clamped between said clamp members.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, said last-mentioned means comprising a collar fixedly attached to said second clamp member, said collar surrounding said spring means and having an inturned shoulder, and an outwardly extending shoulder on said cylinder adapted to be engaged by the inturned shoulder of said collar.

11. In a coating apparatus, a support, a rotatable member having an axis mounted on said support, a first spray gun, means to mount said first spray gun on said member so that said first spray gun will move in a circular path about said axis, a second spray gun, means to mount said second spray gun on said support, means to move said second spray gun along a path comprising first and second lines at right angles to each other in a plane transverse to said axis and a single driving shaft actuating the movement of both said first and second spray guns.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, and clamp means for holding an article to be sprayed in juxtaposition with said spray guns.

13. In a coating apparatus, a support, a rotatable member having an axis mounted on said support, a first spray gun, means to mount said first spray gun on said member so that said first spray gun will move along a circular path about said axis, a second spray gun, means to mount said second spray gun on said support, means to move said second spray gun in a plane transverse to said axis along a path comprising first and second lines at right angles to each other and an are connecting said lines and a single driving shaft actuating the movement of both said first and second spray guns.

14. In a coating apparatus, a support, a rotatable member having an axis mounted on said support, a first spray gun, means to mount said first spray gun on said member so that said first spray gun will move along a circular path about said axis, a second spray gun, means to mount said second spray gun on said support, means to move said second spray gun in a plane transverse to said axis along a path comprising first, second and third lines, said lines defining part of a rectangle and a single driving shaft actuating the movement of both said first and second spray guns.

15. In a coating apparatus, a support, a rotatable member having an axis mounted on said support, a first spray gun, means to mount said first spray gun on said member so that said first spray gun will move along a circular path about said axis, a second spray gun, means to mount said second spray gun on said support, means to move said second spray gun in a plane transverse to said axis along a path comprising first, second and third lines, said lines defining part of a generally rectangularpattern, said path further comprising curves connecting said first and second lines and said second and third lines, respectively and a single driving shaft actuating the movement of both said first and second spray guns.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, and clamp means for holding an article to be sprayed in juxtaposition with said spray guns.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 940,178 Meyer Nov. 16, 1909 1,325,815 Valerius et a1 Dec. 23, 1919 2,281,169 Pattison Apr. 28, 1942 2,480,663 McNab Aug. 30, 1949 2,728,238 Paasche Dec. 27, 1955 2,781,738 Paasche Feb. 19, 1957 2,846,973 OCallaghan Aug. 12, 1958 2,868,163 Boyd Jan. 13, 1959 

